Abstract: In recent public interest litigations filed by procuratorates in safeguarding the safety of food and medicine, the focus was to apply for punitive damages. Although the trial court usually satisfies the procuratorate's claims in practice, there are still many problems to be solved, such as insufficient legal ground, inconsistent standards in calculating punitive damages, similar cases with different results, and the unreasonable administration of the fund. In order to improve the application of punitive damages in public interest litigation, it is necessary to entitle the plaintiff of public interest litigation to apply for punitive damages, standardize the baseline for calculating punitive damages and fund administration, and stipulate the prescriptive right to seek punitive damages in public interest litigation.

Keywords: punitive damages; safe of food and medicine; public interest litigation; procuratorial organs

Author:Xu Hui, research fellow, professor, and doctoral supervisor, Institute of Law, Chinese Academia of Social Sciences; and Li Wenhui, graduate student, School of Law, Universal of Chinese Academia of Social Sciences.

Source: 4 (2021) Journal of Jiangsu University(Social Science Edition)